Heating duct attachment



Dec. 26, 1967 MURPHY 3,359,883

HEATING DUCT ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 26, 1965 FIG. 2.

INVENTOR Robert A. Murphy ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,359,883 HEATiNG DUCT ATTACHMENT Robert A. Murphy, Arlington, Va., assignor of one-half interest to Charles F. Wirth, Hyattsville, Md. Filed Aug. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 482,753 4 Claims. (Cl. 9840) This invention relates to heating ducts, and more particularly, to attachments for heating ducts in homes to direct forced air from a furnace or air conditioner to those areas where it will provide the most effect.

In modern homes, more and more forced air furnaces are being used. In addition to the low installation cost, these furnaces are provided with facilities for the inexpensive addition of air conditioning evaporators to provide the home with refrigerated air Without the additional installation of air ducts. The heating air ducts are used for air cooling as well. Air ducts from a forced air furnace or air cooling unit usually are constructed to pass between the partitions of walls and between the floors of one story and the ceiling of another. They terminate in vents which are placed in a wall or partition, particularly in those homes in which air cooling is later to be installed. Thelocation of the heating and cooling air ducts discharge openings in a wall often restricts the use of that wall. Many homemakers are reluctant to place articles of furniture, such as pianos, immediately adjacent the vent, and many women are discouraged from decorating the rooms as they would prefer, due to their reluctance to cover a discharge vent by draperies or the like because of the tendency of such articles to obstruct the normal flow of air from the vent, and for fear of damaging such articles.

It is an object of this invention to provide an attachment for air discharge vents.

It is another object of this invention to provide an attachment for air discharge vents which enables the direction of the air dis-charge to be directed to more effective locations.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new attachment for air ducts used in enclosures for causing the direction of the discharge air flow to desirable locations.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an attachment for forced air heating and cooling units which directs the discharge of the forced air into desired locations regardless of normally interfering structures.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, which description should be considered together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the attachment of this invention in use, and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the attachment of FIG. 1 taken along the line 22.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the reference character 11 designates the floor of a room which includes at least one wall 12 which is bordered by a baseboard 13. A heating and cooling duct 15 terminates in an opening in the wall 12 and is covered by an attachment generally designated as 16.

The attachment comprises an upper portion 21 which is shaped to cover the opening of the duct 15 and to enclose it. Flanges 22 are formed on three edges of the top portion 21 to fit against the wall 12, and holes 23 are provided in the flanges 22 so that the attachment 16 may be fastened to the wall 12 by screws, or other suitable means. The mounting of the attachment 16 on the wall 12 is better shown in the sectional view of FIG. 2. The top portion 21 is open at the bottom and is attached to a duct 24 which is formed to flare out away from the top portion 21 and to slope outwardly away from the wall 12. At the bottom of 3,359,883 Patented Dec. 26, 1967 the duct 24 is a discharge duct 25 which is parallel to and may rest on the floor 11.

As shown in the drawings, the attachment 16 is designed to conduct the air being discharged from the duct 15 around obstructions, shown in the drawings as draperies 14. Without the attachment 16, the air being discharged from the duct 15 would be trapped between the wall 12 and the draperies 14, and little air from the duct 15 would leak into the room proper. During the cold months of the year, this room would be poorly heated, and during the warm months of the year, this room would be poorly cooled. Instead of the draperies 14, the obstruction to air from the duct 15 could be a sofa, a chair, or any similar item of furnishing. Some articles, such as pianos, sufier mechanical damage when subjected to the direct or closely adjacent flow of hot, dry air. The attachment 16 may also be used to direct the air flow from the duct 15 to locations remote from such sensitive and valuable items.

Ordinarily attachments to air ducts also tend to limit the flow of air from the duct. To obviate this as much as possible, the attachment 16 is made tapering from a small width portion at the top to a larger width adjacent the floor 11. In addition, to enable the attachment to fit much more comfortably behind articles of furniture, the duct portion 24 gradually narrows from its thickest part where it is connected to the top portion 21 to a thin part where it is connected to the discharge part 25. Since articles of furniture, such as chairs, sofas and the like, have a tendency to slope away from the wall from the highest point, the duct portion 24 of the invention is also slanted away from the wall 12 so that the discharge part 25 may more readily fit under such furniture. A circular reinforcing member 26 is placed in the approximate center of the discharge part 25 to provide support for the upper sheet of the part 25. Generally, there will be some decrease in the air flow from the attachment 16 because the area of the dis-charge portion 25 is less than the area of the duct 15, but in normal use, the attachment is mounted on the duct 15 as a replacement for the louvered vent which is normally used. Since the louvers of the vent greatly reduce the amount of free area through which the discharge air from the duct 15 is free to move, the output area of the part 25 is little less than the actual available discharge area of the duct 15 with a louvered vent in position. Thus, the air flow from the attachment 16 is the same order of magnitude as the air flow from the duct 15 with a louvered vent instead of the attachment 16. If the amount of turbulence of the air being discharged from the attachment 16 is to be reduced to operate the unit more etficiently, the bottom portion 25 may be attached to the duct portion 24 by a gently curved connecting member, not shown. However, this would increase the amount of space occupied by the attachment 16 and would tend to increase the difliculties in using the unit in close quarters.

The attachment 16 may be made from sheet metal which is painted the same as the wall 12 (it may even be wallpapered to render it more inconspicuous), or it may be made of any other suitable construction material such as a synthetic resin. In any case, the discharge portion 25 is made as thin as possible While retaining a reasonable efliciency, so that the unit is as inconspicuous as possible when mounted behind draperies and the like.

In locations where attachment 16 will be subject to hard usage, additional reinforcing members may be supplied to the discharge part 25 to help prevent deformation. If desired, and for balancing the heat distribution among several rooms of a house or other building, the attachment 16 can readily be provided with a butterfly valve to adjust the amount of air to be discharged from the part 25'.

For ease of cleaning, the attachment 16 is preferably formed with smooth flowing curves and seams may be coated with a smooth material to reduce the tendency to collect dust. The attachment 16 may be fastened onto the wall 12 instead of the vent, which was originally provided, by using screws in the holes 23 and in the original holes in the duct 15. In those cases Where the louvered vent original-ly provided on the duct 15 is to remain, the flanges 22 On the attachment 16 may 'be bent inwardly, the louvered vent loosened slightly, and the attachment -16 slid into place with the flanges 22 fitting between the wall 12 and the louvered" vent. When the original vent is removed and the attachment 16 is fastened to the wall 12 by screws or the like, the holes 23 may be made in the form of keyhole slots so that the attachment 16 may be readily removed for cleaning or other servicing.

The above specification has described a new and improved supplementary duct or attachment for forced air heating and cooling systems which provides a means for avoiding obstructions to the normal fiow of such air into a room. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art other forms which this invention may assume without departing from its spirit. It is, therefore, intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A readily removable attachment for forced air vents which are situated in a partition and which are normally terminated in a cover or register, said attachment comprising a generally boxlike receiver having two adjacent sides open, one of said open sides being arranged to fit over a vent, flanges on at least one edge of said receiver for attaching said receiver to the surface in which said vent is formed, said flanges being formed such that said attachment may be substituted for said vent cover or register without structural modification of said vent or the surrounding partition, a duct portion connected at one end to the other open side of said receiver for conducting air forced from said vent into said receiver generally parallel to said partition and behind an obstruction to said vent, and a discharge portion connected at one end to the other end of said duct portion, the axis of said discharge portion being at an acute angle to the axis of said duct portion to discharge air around said obstruction and in the same general direction as the air flow from said vent.

2. An attachment for a forced air vent formed in a partition of a building and terminating in a register mounted on said partition, said attachment being readily substituted for said register and having a receiver portion, a duct portion and a discharge portion, said receiver portion being formed as a generally boxlike structure having one large side and an adjacent side open, a duct portion attached at one end to said adjacent open side to conduct air at an angle to the direction of air flow from said vent and generally parallel to said partition, said duct portion gradually increasing in width but decreasing in thickness to provide a smooth flow of air While providing a thin section which readily fits behind an object, and a discharge portion which is generally duct-shaped and connected at one end to the other end of said duct portion, said discharge portion being attached to said duct portion such that their axes form a acute angle so that said discharge portion dis-charges air around said obstruction and in the general direction in which air was originally discharged from said vent, said receiver portion including means for mounting said attachment on said partition in substitution for said register and utilizing the same general mounting means said register. r

3. An attachment for forced air ducts constructed in the walls of a building which ducts are obstructed by draperies or furnishings and termiate in removable registers mounted on said walls, said attachment comprising an enclosed hood having an opening to fit over the obstructed duct in place of saidregister, a duct portion having one end attached to an open side of said hood other than said opening so that air being forced from said forced air duct passes into said hood and is directed through said duct portion, said duct portion being connected to said hood generally parallel to the wall in which said forced air duct is located to readily pass behind an obstructing object, a discharge portion connected at one end to the other end of said duct portion and at an angle thereto to discharge air passing through said attachment around said obstruction, and reinforcing means in the open end of said discharge portion for strengthening said open end to oppose collapse thereof.

4. A removable attachment for heating and cooling ducts in a building, which ducts are likely to be obstructed by the furnishings in said building, each of said heating and cooling ducts terminating in a vent provided in a wall of said building and having a removable vent cover mounted on said wall, said attachment comprising a generally closed hood having two adjacent sides open, one of said open sides arranged to fit over said vent, flanges on at least one edge of said one side for attaching said attachment to the wall in which said vent is formed in place of said vent cover and utilizing the same general means used for mounting said vent cover, a duct portion connected at one end to the adjacent open side of said hood, said duct portion having a gradually decreasing width from said hood and gradually increasing thickness to provide a cross-sectional area of the same order as the area of said vent with a small thickness, said duct portion being generally parallel to the wall in which said vent is formed, a discharge portion connected to the other end of said duct portion and arranged generally at right angles to said wall to discharge air from said vent into said building around said obstruction and in the same general direction as the air discharged from said vent, and reinforcing means for the open end of said discharge portion to prevent collapse of said open end when subjected to inadvertent bumping.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 458,158 7/1949 Canada.

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

W. E. WAYNER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A READILY REMOVABLE ATTACHMENT FOR FORCED AIR VENTS WHICH ARE SITUATED IN A PARTITION AND WHICH ARE NORMALLY TERMINATED IN A COVER OF REGISTER, SAID ATTACHMENT COMPRISING A GENERALLY BOXLIKE RECEIVER HAVING TWO ADJACENT SIDES OPEN, ONE OF SAID OPEN SIDES BEING ARRANGED TO FIT OVER A VENT, FLANGES ON AT LEAST ONE EDGE OF SAID RECEIVER FOR ATTACHING SAID RECEIVER TO THE SURFACE IN WHICH SAID VENT IS FORMED, SAID FLANGES BEING FORMED SUCH THAT SAID ATTACHMENT MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR SAID VENT COVER OR REGISTER WITHOUT STRUCTURAL MODIFICATION OF SAID VENT OR THE SURROUNDING PARTITION, A DUCT PORTION CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE OTHER OPEN SIDE OF SAID RECEIVER FOR CONDUCTING AIR FORCED FROM SAID VENT INTO SAID RECEIVER GENERALLY PARALLEL TO SAID PARTITION AND BEHIND AN OBSTRUCTION TO SAID VENT, AND A DISCHARGE PORTION CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE OTHER END OF SAID DUCT PORTION, THE AXIS OF SAID DISCHARGE PORTION BEING AT AN ACUATE ANGLE TO THE AXIS OF SAID DUCT PORTION TO DISCHARGE AIR AROUND SAID OBSTRUCTION AND IN THE SAME GENERAL DIRECTION AS THE AIR FLOW FROM SAID VENT. 